I’m a firm believer in futurism, the coming-true of farfetched science fiction concepts. One of the seemingly impossible devices I remember reading about was featured in Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451. The main character’s wife would lie awake at night listening to the “beetles” in her ear — tiny radio earbuds — chittering away deep into the night.

I used to long for such devices to exist, truly wireless earbuds, so that I could listen to my own music unhindered by cables or heavy batteries. And wouldn’t you know that less than 20 years after reading that book, I’d be holding in my hands something very similar to a then-preposterous concept, the Treblab X11 Bluetooth Earbuds.

Comes with everything shown, including two complete sets of earplugs, both foam and rubber. Very welcome!

In 2017, Treblab’s “truly wireless earbuds,” as they call them, are actually not such an usual device. All the same, I was amazed at how small and lightweight the X11’s were and eager to put them to the test.

What’s in the box?

• The earbuds
• Carrying case
• Manual
• 3 sizes of rubber eartips
• 3 sizes of foam eartips
• Split-end Micro USB charging cable
• Manual

The Specs

The X11 earbuds sport Bluetooth 4.1 profile, a 6-hour battery life, 38-foot signal range (which seemed accurate in my testing), and an inline mic for placing and receiving phone calls. Charging was a simple affair thanks to the special split micro-USB cable that allowed for both earbuds to be charged simultaneously.

The included charging cable is split at the end to charge both earbuds from the same cord.

Interestingly, powering on just one earbud activates both the left and right audio channels for single-earbud use. I believe that’s what gave me such a hard time with the pairing process. It’s a bit of a chore to get both earbuds paired to the device and each other, as they show up as two separate devices in the Bluetooth pairing process. But after the initial weirdness, everything was pretty smooth.

Durability and Design

The construction of the earbuds seemed very solid. I’d say that they’re fine to toss into a front pocket or gym bag, but I’d probably stick them in their case or a smaller container simply to avoid losing them. After placing them in my ears, they were practically weightless. There’s virtually no chance they would accidentally fall out of your ears.

You’d be very hard-pressed not to find a perfect fit for your ear canals with at least one of the six supplied eartips. There are 3 sizes of both foam and rubber tips, which felt generous to be given so many options.

Both earbuds have a button on them that acts as play/pause for music and answer/hang-up for phone calls. There is no volume control on them. The buttons are located directly over your ear canals, so the force required to press them forced the earbuds painfully deeper.

One quirky feature of the earbuds is that while they’re powered on, they flash a very bright blue light. About every 8 seconds or so. The entire time they’re on. Since I was testing these at work, I chose to cover up the buttons with tape to keep from distracting my neighbors (and myself) with the blue strobes. But I imagine that steady blinking would be great for visibility in low-light running.

Pay no mind to the tape I placed over the flashing, blue lights.

Sound

Initially, I found the sound quality a bit lacking. The bass seemed weak and the treble a little too hissy. But then I realized that the default eartips were a bit too loose for my ear canals. Once I switched over to a larger set and formed a better seal, the sound quality improved dramatically.

After finding the right fit and EQ setting, the sound quality jumped up to very good. The bass was punchy, mids seemed very clean and the treble, while still a little too hissy for my taste, did not deteriorate and contrasted clearly with the heavy bass. I’d consider them to be perfect for workouts and running. The volume reached dangerously loud levels at around 50% of my iPhone’s volume threshold, so it’s safe to say they’re plenty loud. Hours into the testing, I was genuinely surprised they sounded as good as they did, considering their tiny size, wireless connectivity and relatively unheard-of brand.

But then, brand isn’t everything.

I managed to get about 5 hours of battery life out of them before I got a spoken “low battery” voice prompt in my left ear. The battery level dropped from 30% to 20% in a moment and then powered off very soon after that. They won’t carry you through a full work day, but a long run or gym session? No problem.

If you’re in the market for a pair of wireless earbuds that you can throw in your ears and essentially ignore after that, at just under $80, Treblab’s are tough to beat.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Treblab. Please visit their site for more info or Amazon to purchase now.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV, Bluetooth Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Bluetooth earbuds

Treblab X11 Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds review originally appeared on on March 30, 2017 at 8:00 am.

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Seems like just yesterday the world was introduced to wireless headphones, now they’re everywhere. So many models and price points to choose from it can literally make ones head spin. So what makes a good pair of wireless headphones? Well, that can vary from person to person. For me its a few things. Style, comfort, durability and most importantly sound quality. Then there’s the choice between in ear or over the ear styles. Since I LOVE listening to music while I’m at the gym, I prefer the in ear style because they tend to stay in place better while exercising and do a better job of keeping noise out. Do the Rowkin Pulse wireless headphones have what it takes to standout from the crowd? Let’s take a look.

In the box:

• A pair of Bluetooth Earbuds
• 1 USB Charging Cable
• 9 Ear Tips: Small, Medium, Large (3 colors)
• 6 Ear Hooks (3 colors)
• 1 User Manual

Pulse comes with a nice variety of replacement ear tips, in 3 different sizes and colors, with corresponding ear hooks. I like that Rowkin gives you so many ear tip choices, it assures that you’ll get the best fit for your ears. I also like the color variety which includes black, cobalt blue and fuchsia pink, giving you up to 18 different possible color combinations. There’s also a USB charging cable and a users manual.

Design and Build:

The design of the Pulse is sleek, with a modern look and matte black finish; or if you prefer they’re also available in bright white. The earbuds are small which gives them a nice low profile when in your ears. Build wise they’re very lightweight,  yet they don’t feel cheap and all the function buttons are well defined and easy to use. Rowkin also uses WaterSafe nano-coating technology, which makes the headphones sweat proof, water resistant and IPX5 compliant. Perfect for running, biking, hiking, exercising, and any other activity.

Charging:

Charging the Pulse is done by plugging the provided USB charging cable into the Micro-USB port which is located on the back of the right earbud. The port is covered by a small plastic piece which is very easy to remove and once put back into place blends in nicely, making it unnoticeable. While charging, the small LED indicator light glows red. Once the headphones are fully charged the LED indicator light turns white. Full charge out of the box took about an hour. The manual states that music listening time on a full charge is 4 hours and I found this to be pretty spot on. They also boast a standby time of 12 hours (power on).

Pairing:

Pairing the Pulse is easy. Press and hold the control button for 6 seconds, and the LED indicator light will blink red and white alternately. This puts the headphones into pairing mode. Select ‘Rowkin Pulse’ on your device and connect, once connected the LED indicator will begin flashing white. Pulse uses Bluetooth 4.1 technology to connect to your smart device giving you a working distance range of up to 25 feet. In my testing, I was able to walk out of my house to my car without losing connection to my iPhone, approximately 30 feet. I like the freedom of being able to set my iPhone down and bebop around the house without having to worry about losing the connection.

Fit & Comfort:

Now that setup was complete it was time to see how the headphones actually felt in my ears. I decided to stay with the ear tips and hooks that originally came on the headphones. I found the Pulse to be very lightweight and comfortable, the earbuds are slightly angled which gives the headphones a more natural fit. The ear hooks, although minimal in size, do a good job of making the fit snug and secure. The cord on the headphones is a nice length too. There’s not a lot of excess cord hanging off the back of your neck. Its so thin and light that you really don’t feel it at all and maybe more importantly, it’s tangle free. Rowkin uses almost invisible grooves to keep the cords In place, so you can toss the Pulse into your gym bag, purse or pocket without worrying about pulling out a tangled mess.

Music & Phone Controls:

Controlling music on the Pulse headphones is done using the control and volume up (+) volume down (-) buttons. Press the control button once to play music and once to pause. The volume up and volume down buttons are used to control next and previous tracks. Hold volume up 1 second for next track and volume down 1 second for previous track. Pulse also has a built-in microphone for making and receiving phone calls. Answering incoming calls is done by pressing the control button once. Ending the call is done the same way. If you want to reject an incoming call just press and hold the control button for 2 seconds. The built in mic also allows you to access Siri and Google Assistant with just a couple taps of the control button. Giving you a genuine hands-free, wireless stereo experience.

Calling Feature:

I’ll admit I don’t normally use my headphones to make a lot of phone calls, but for the purpose of this review, I used the Pulse to make a phone call while out walking my dog. It was a cold day and I was bundled up pretty good. Hat, gloves and winter coat. My iPhone was inside my coat pocket, so instead of pulling off my gloves and fumbling for it, I decided it would be a perfect time to try out Pulses Siri voice activation. I was able to double-tap the control button thru my hat to trigger Siri and ask her to make a call. She had no problem hearing my command even though I was outside where there was a lot of ambient noise. Once my call was connected the voice of the person I was talking to was crisp and clear, they said my voice sounded clear without any background noise. Like I said, I don’t use my headphones a lot for phone calls, but with spring and summer coming I’ll be spending a lot more time outdoors and its nice to know that the call feature is there if I need it.

Listening Experience:

Most of my music listening is done while I’m working out, so I thought the gym would be the perfect place to put the Pulse to the test. There were two things I was looking for specifically. How well the noise reduction and echo cancellation handled the ambient noise inside the gym and how well they stayed in my ears while I worked out. The first thing I noticed is that the Pulse didn’t get quite as loud as other wireless headphones I have used, however, the music sounded very crisp and clear with a surround sound like quality. Pair that with the noise reduction / echo cancellation and it made for a very pleasant listening experience. I didn’t hear any of the ambient noise that is always present in my gym (music from the sound system or the clanking of weight machines) while music was playing on the headphones. As far as comfort while working out is concerned, the Pulse passed with flying colors. The fit was very natural and comfortable. I never felt like the earbuds were going to pop out and I never had to readjust them or fuss with the cord. Something I was constantly doing with other headphones. My experience with the Pulse was so good that they’ve become my go to workout headphones.

Wrapping it up:

There’s not a lot of bells and whistles with the Rowkin Pulse wireless headphones, but sometimes more isn’t always better. In my opinion, that’s the case with the Pulse. They’re very user-friendly. Both music and phone calls sound crisp and clear. They check all of the boxes when it comes to what I’m looking for in a pair of wireless headphones. Modern style, lightweight comfortable fit, durability and very good sound quality. Are there better sounding headphones out there?  Sure, but in most cases, in order to get premium sound you’re going to pay a premium price and even then there are no guarantees. I think the Rowkin Pulse wireless headphones do a very good job of living up to their $49.99 price tag. So if you’re in the market for a pair of wireless headphones do yourself a favor and check out the Rowkin Pulse wireless headphones. I think you’ll be glad you did.

Source: The sample in this review was provided by Rowkin. Please visit their website or Amazon to purchase them.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV, Bluetooth Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Bluetooth earbuds

Rowkin Pulse wireless Bluetooth headphones review originally appeared on on March 28, 2017 at 7:36 am.

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